122 THE CONTROL OF LIFE 



should be realised, that thoroughly bad nurture may 

 arrest the development of the general constitution, 

 reducing vigour and reacting power. This may be 

 cumulative if the bad nurture persists, though not 

 perhaps hereditary in the strict sense. Contrariwise, a 

 notable improvement in good nurture may raise the 

 whole pitch of the individual offspring's life, with the 

 result that the individual makes more of his opportuni- 

 ties, and in turn secures still better nurture for his 

 children. 



(7) There is another consideration that is of the 

 utmost importance and in no way speculative. What 

 is particularly characteristic of Man is his external 

 registration of the gains of evolution. His extra- 

 organismal organisation — so far away from the ant- 

 hill or beehive — includes fresh air, pure water, sound 

 food, pleasant houses, leisure, and so on up to traditions 

 and institutions, literature and art. All this is part of 

 our nurture, and the chances of a promiseful new depar- 

 ture developing and persisting must depend consider- 

 ably on the reception it meets with in the externally 

 systematised nurture. The evolution of ' nurture * 

 must accompany the evolution of ' nature ' if progress 

 is to be secure. In our social heritage, which is as 

 supreme as our natural inheritance is fundamental, 

 there are ever-widening opportunities for transcending 

 the trammels of protoplasm. Wherefore, let us lift up 

 our hearts. 



